*a good thing coming to an end..

My niece, Kierstyn was here for a couple of weeks and we had a delightful time making memories filled with laughter and a few tears along the way. I shall miss her greatly, I have missed having a young mind in our home. Young minds are so refreshing aren't they?

Years ago when she was with us I braided her hair so she could have "crinkled hair". Then it seems we did it one other year so she could take it down when she got back to her house and then sport it at school or church the following day.  Since her hair is now a bit shorter than it was those two times, she wasn't that "jazzed" about the whole end result.

Kierstyn has one of those personalities that will not allow her to be a stranger to anyone, my Henry is just like that. I love it!  She made friends throughout the day at the beach with three different young girls. Every time one left, she scanned the close by area and found some one she could befriend. One of them even told her no. But, she tried again after a short while. She did win her over and they played nicely together until we packed up and left for the day.

She learned to make yo-yo's while she was here using the Clover Yo-Yo product.   These are really a great tool for making yo-yo's the cheater way!  I have a small collection of several sizes and shapes.  She started working with the large round and obtained success right away.  She, however, wasn't as successful ask keeping Frayja off her lap.  Kierstyn said that Frayja knew she was getting ready to go home and she didn't want her to go.  This is her reasoning for why Fray kept sitting on her lap.

I am so blessed to have my niece love me so that she is torn as to whether she wants to stay or go when she is missing her mom.  She decided that two weeks was long enough, even though she had initially planned to stay three weeks.  These pictures were all taken the morning she started her travels back to NE Florida.  She took her time telling each animal good bye. She has been a great devoted helper in the barn the past two weeks. Surely our little goats will miss her as well as the chickens that were captured each day.

The chickens are providing us with about 7 eggs per day right now. Our chicks that we added to the flock in  mid-Feb are getting ready to start producing too, so we will be kicking that number up a few notches. We are currently keeping up with production (I sent Lori home with almost two dozen), but soon I  suspect that we shall be selling some of our fresh eggs.

The baby rabbits are growing like weeds near a septic tank!  Whew!  This very week we will be taking all the babies from the momma's and putting them in their very own hutch.  The girls will go in one and the boys in the other (we don't want the sisters and brothers practicing any hanky panky).  Our butcher date is a little over a month away.

The garden is ker-plunk. Today Eric and I worked in the garden spots, removing tomato cages, mowing down and pulling up dead vines and mulching the areas.  We have the calendar marked with an August planting date for some Fall harvest crops. I can't say that I am super excited about it, but I know I will be when the plants start producing. I suppose I am just enjoying the down time.